View full sizeBeervana's belated Christmas: Two popular brewpubs will open big new production breweries and taprooms in January in addition to their current locations --- Amnesia Brewing received several truckloads of tanks from Metalcraft Fabrication last month for its new brewery and pub in Old Town Washougal, which will supply several new Amnesia beers, plus bottled and canned beer; and Breakside's new production brewery in Milwaukie is up and running and the tasting room could be open next month.
John Foyston

LA FIN DU MONDE Friday, Belmont Station, 4500 S.E. Stark St.

That's "the end of the world" for us Anglophones, and also the name of Unibroue's tripel-style golden ale. La Fin du Monde is a slightly cloudy, effervescent, spicy golden strong ale that consistently gets the highest ratings on beer-geek sites such as ratebeer.com. It's the perfect ale with which to toast the pivot of the solar year, the solstice at which our hemisphere begins to tilt once more toward the sun. I think I'll have another while waiting for the sunlight ...

Friday's the night to try beers from San Francisco's 21st Amendment and one of Bend's newest, Crux Fermentation Project, the new home of former Deschutes brewmaster Larry Sidor. They're releasing 21st Amendment's new oyster stout, Marooned on Hog Island, and the kitchen will make some special oyster dishes to pair with the beer.

There'll be other 21st Amendment beers, too, including the latest batch of 21A Saison and the only Portland keg of their GABF Gold Medal winning HQT, a beer based on an ancient Egyptian recipe using raw barley, honey and dates. In addition, they'll pour two beers from Crux Fermentation, giving Portlanders one of the first opportunities to try their inventive beers on tap -- though it won't be like the brewery's pub in Bend, where they have 16 Crux beers on tap, including Saison, Snow Cave and something called Sugar Daddy.

If you're still looking for a Christmas gift for the beer enthusiast on your list, you can try the website www.beerwear.net, which is billed as a one-stop shop featuring authentic European beer gear from breweries such as Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Fuller's, O'Hara's and Fruli. The collection includes bottle openers, bar towels, coasters, furniture, flags and beer signs, plus glassware, barware, tap handles, logo apparel and more.

In the Portland area, all breweries and brewpubs offer logo wear and glassware for sale. Belmont Station (4500 S.E. Stark St.) -- which pioneered the bottle shop/gift store concept hereabouts 15 years ago -- has an extensive selection of beer gear, glassware, books and gift certificates for all of us who prefer to shop locally.

But if that certain someone already has enough beer T-shirts and brewery hats, how about a book on brewing his/her own beer? Or a starter brewing kit? Or, for more experienced brewers, a couple of pounds of the Northwest's finest hops? Or some specialty malt? Or a gift certificate for some arcane bit of brewing equipment that we civilians will never get right? Then you need a well-stocked homebrew supply shop.

We're lucky to have the oldest and one of the best in the country right here in town: F.H. Steinbart, (234 S.E. 12th Ave.). And don't worry if you don't know wort from Gort, the robot on "The Day the Earth Stood Still": Good homebrew shops are staffed by enthusiastic beer fans and brewers who'll be glad to help you buy the perfect gift. Here are some other metro-area homebrew shops: